Royal
by MissMopTop
Summary: Alisa Tully wanted to live life to the fullest. An adventure seemed to be the best way to to do just that. She sets off on her own, but it isn't long before she meets a mysterious individual who promises her lots of adventure, for one thing in return.
1. Dying in a desert

_It was hot._

_Really hot._

_I wanted to stop._

_The sun was baking me alive._

_I needed water._

_Fast._

All I could see in the distance was sand. Miles and miles of it. I coudn't remember the last time I had had a drink. Two days ago maybe? I was thirsty to the point of being delirious. Not a good sign.

But I kept on walking. What choice did I have? I hadn't planned on expiring quite yet, so Mr. Grim Reaper would just have to wait. If I was going to die early, I wanted to die of a respectable cause. Dehydration just didn't cut it.

My pack felt heavy. It was almost empty but weighing me down nonetheless. I had been tempted to ditch it, but it was all I had. I would need it to survive in the big city, Napolis, the heart of Corenthia. That is, if I ever got there.

So, you might be wondering why I was alone in the middle of the desert? My own stupidity is the best answer.

Five days ago, the night of my sixteeth birthday, I packed my bags and went off in search of an adventure. I had been planning my escape for the entire year. No, not because my family was awful. They were quite pleasent actually. Nor because I wanted to become something. I didn't really have anything I needed to accomplish.

I set off because I needed some exitement in my life. I wanted to live it to the fullest. Take a walk on the wild side. Typical teenage stuff.

An adventure seemed like exactly what I needed. Unfortunatly, my little village of two hundred, Acantha, didn't offer such things. And my parents didn't like adventures very much. Apparently they lead to danger and disapointment.

So, at the darkest hour while my family was asleep, I departed for Napolis. Napolis seemed like a good start. It was a big city with lots of people and things to see. Very much a place for adventure. I left with a bag filled with food, water, a quilt, a few bars of soap, and some of my jewellery (which I was planning on selling for money). I decided to pack lightly. An adventure was suppose to be spontaneous, was it not?

I should also mention I left wearing my brother's clothing, my hair cropped short, and my chest wrapped so tightly I could hardly breath.

To clarify, I'm not male. My name is Alisa Tully and I am all female. So why was I dressing up in such a way? I had a feeling my parents might send someone to look for me. It was the perfect disguise. I was posing as a boy named Alister Trullee, who was travelling to see his aunt. Hopefully no one would suspect a thing.

I had written a note to my family before I took off, telling them I loved them, and that I'd see them in a while. My family was great, really. But they wouldn't understand why I wanted this so badly. My mother was especially worried about letting me go. It was a big scary world out there, filled with dragons, goblins, vampires, faeries, whitches, immortals...who knew what else. If she were to have it her way, I wouldn' move out until I turned 48. But by then it would be to late. I'd be condemned to my village forever.

Hence, that night I headed west, to Napolis. The quickest way to get there was straight through the desert, so that was exactly the route I took. Deserts seemed adventurous.

What a mistake.

The days were long, hot and hard. The nights were lonely and frightening. Small animals would come and go, but even they seemed to have a hard time with the terrain. I had miscalculated the disctance of the trip, so I hadn't brought enough provisions. I had run out of food and drinking water on my third day. By then, it was to late to go back. All I could do was hope the city was right over the next sand dune. Somehow it never was.

Now, as I trecked accross the blistering sand, barely able to stand straight, I wondered in all seriousness weather I would perish before my real adventure ever started. What a waste. If I hadn't been so dehydrated, a few tears might have escaped my eyes. For now though, I could only cry dry, gruff, tearless sobs. I was frustrated and incredibly tired. I hadn't slept at all last night because I had been so intent on finding water.

My mind was starting to go hazy and I thought of my family. How could I leave them like this? My parents had been right all along.

My thirst was getting to me.

Eventually, my legs gave out. I guess that was bound to happen at some point, I'd been walking five days in total, two of them without any fuel. I crawled on, but after a few hours of this, my knees and palms had taken the impact. So I just gave up.

_No more._

_I didn't want any more of this._

I collapsed and lay there. Hours passed, and I found myself thinking many interesting thoughts. Thoughts you wouldn't generaly need to think of.

_Would my body ever be found. _

_How long would it take to decay in this heat? _

_Would anyone look for me? _

Lots of fascinating concepts.

Then I found myself thinking much darker thoughts. I hoped it would all stop. I wanted to be comfortable again.

I almost wanted to die.

**I was loosing my mind.**


	2. Saved by a stranger

_I'm cooked meat._

I might have laughed at my own pun if it hadn't been a reality.

_My name is Alisa Tully._

_I'm dying of dehydration._

_In the middle of no where._

_Dressed like a man._

Things were pretty bad.

_Goodbye everyone. _

_Goodbye adventure. _

_Goodbye world._

These were the types of thoughts I was having when I heard it. At first it was distant and I couldn't make it out. But as the noise grew louder, it began to sound like a big animal and something dragging along the sand. An ox-cart maybe?

I opened my eyes a little to check. Sure enough there was an ox-cart, coming straight towards me. But I was to drained to do anything about it.

_Don't move Alisa_, some voice in my head informed me, _your hallucinating_.

The ox-cart stopped a few feet away, and a person appeared from it. They were coming for me, I assumed.

I was hallucinating though, so it didn't really matter.

"Are you still concious?" The stranger called out. He was male. Young by the sound of it.

"I need some water." I managed to croak, although all you could really make out was "need" and "water". My voice was completely dry.

"Right, two seconds." said the stranger.

He really did only take two seconds. Before I realized he was gone, he was standing over me with a flask.

I tried to sit up, without much luck. He seemed to notice I was pretty beat, so he politely knelt down, held me up a little, and tipped the content of the flask into my mouth.

This was no hallucination. The water was as real as real could be. At first I only had the strength to swallow, but the more I drank, the stronger I became. It wasn't long before I was grabbing at the flask with both hands, sitting up on my own and greedily gulping down what little was left.

"That was quick." Commented the stranger. For the first time, I got a good look at him.

He looked weird, to be frank. It wasn't that he was ugly. On the contrary, he was beautiful. Olive skin, though it seemed pale. Dark eyes and brown hair that shone in the sunlight. A strong jaw line and a nose that was slightly crooked at the tip, but perfect nonetheless.

I think this was what seemed so strange about his appearence. His fairly ordinary features came off as almost glorious, and trust me, I wasn't the type to find guys "glorious". Loud, obnoxious and grubby maybe, but not glorious.

He wasn't tall, a little taller than I was perhaps. He had a normal stature, and his face was kind of elfin.

"Is there any more?" What I meant to say was rather along the lines of "could I please have more water?". Instead it came out sounding blunt and aggressive.

But he just smiled and nodded.

"It might be a good idea to get out of the sun, though. You're pretty burnt." His eyes travelled down to my forearms. He was right. Other than my face and neck, they were the only part of of my body that wern't covered in some kind of fabric. They'd turned about four shades darker than the rest of me.

" Why don't you travel with us in the cart for a while? We're headed west."

That sounded nice. Even an ox-cart seemed exponentially better than travelling on foot in this weather.

"Sure. Umm, thanks." I replied awkwardly.

" Do you need help walking?" He asked. I had a feeling he was making fun of me.

"No. I'm pretty good at walking."

"Ok." And then he smiled again. Why did he keep on smiling so much?

The inside of the cart was fairly spacious. We were shaded by a tarp hanging above us. I was just about to make myself comfortable on a mat when I notice an unconscious man, lying across a bunch of hay. I froze.

Was this all a trap? Some guy travelling across the desert collecting thirsty victims, luring them in and cooking them for dinner? My parents _had _always told me to never get into a stranger's ox-cart.

"Relax, he's just sleeping." The voice came from right behing me. I jumped and spun around. The stranger was standing about a foot from me. At first he seemed to be suppressing a smile, but then he began to laughed out loud.

"Jeez, you're high-strung. I just saved you, I'm not going to kill you."

I didn't like that one bit. Did he really think he had saved me? I could have managed just fine without him. That is, if it had started raining or something.

"What do you mean you saved me?" I asked rudely, my voice a little less dry than before, "You just offered me some water... What's you're name anyway?"

His face became completely serious again. Well, almost completely serious.

"Sorry. You've oubviously just been through something very unpleasant. I shouldn't be poking fun at you." He said, while searching through a box, "My name's Teivel. What's yours?"

"I'm Alis-" I had almost forgotten that I was dressed up as a boy, but I caught myself before I could finish, "My name is Alister."

"Alister... that's interesting." He said questioningly. Had he seen right though my disguise?

Before I could blink, he had finished shuffling through the box and was handing me another flask of water.

"Here you are."

I took it from him cautiously.

"You're fast, arn't you?" I pointed out.

For a second, he stopped dead in his tracks, his expression completely blank. Then he grinned from ear to ear.

"I guess I am."

This made me suspicious. There was something about him that wasn't quite right. I looked over to the unconscious man again.

"Don't worry about him. I'm giving him a ride to Napolis." So we were headed to the same place, "He's just very tired. You must be too."

It was true, I was exhausted. I drank some more water before screwing the cap back on and handing him the flask. Even if Teivel was dangerous, he couldn't be any more deadly than the desert. I might as well take my chances.

"Do you mind?" I nodded towards the mat, "I'm probably really dirty."

He looked up, in what seemed to be exaggerated slowness.

"Oh, no, not at all. Make yourself at home."

I took off my pack and shuffled through it for my quilt. I spread it across the mat and lay down on it. I could actually feel my muscles unwinding. It was great.

I was beginning to nod off when I heard Teivel whisper something.

"Just one question." I opened my eyes slightly. He was sitting on the floor, a couple of feet across, eyeing me curiously. He really was beautiful. I might of felt embarassed about the fact that I was filthy, and most likely smelled bad, but I was tired to care.

"Why were you travelling across the desert, alone?"

It was quiet for a moment.

"I was looking for an adventure." I murmured, before closing my eyes again, and letting the steady swaying of the ox-cart lull me to sleep.


	3. Hanging with Haydn

**Thank you for the reviews! It's always great to get some feedback.**

**Emily; I re-read the second chapter, and you were right, "glorious" totally doesn't fit. I switched it for "flawless".**

**The story is set in sort of a fantasy world... I'm still unclear on where and when it's set, but I'll keep on thinking.**

_

* * *

__Where am I?_

Oh right. I was stuck in an ox-cart with two complete strangers. Lovely.

I stretched a little, sat up and looked around. We had stopped moving, and no one else was in the cart. Had they abandonned me while I slept?

I peered outside. We were parked on the edge of what seemed to be a small town. It was quite cute actually. People were buzzing about. Merchants where selling their goods at little kiosks here and there. It smelled of baking.

Then I realised something.

I was hungry. Very hungry, for that matter. It had been three days since I'd eaten anything.

I decided to go explore, and hopefully get myself some food while I was at it. I packed my quilt into my bag, slung it over my shoulder, and headed for the core of the village. As I walked along, I passed several stands that were selling delicious looking things.

Then again, everything looked delicious when you were ravenous. Even the pig head at the butcher's... On second thought, not so much.

I was wondering how I'd get my hands some chow when I saw a familiar face. It was the man who had been asleep in the cart. He was standing in line for some bread.

I went to greet him.

"You're the man from the ox-cart!" I exclaimed. (Not much of a greeting, really.)

"Oh, um, that's right. And you're the kid Teivel found?" He said, seeming a little uncomfortable.

The man looked to be in his fifty's. He was fairly average in appearence; greying hair, sun burnt skin, blue eyes...

"That's me." I smiled a little. Then I made a point of staring at the bread, longingly. He noticed.

"You're probably hungry. Keep me companie, and I'll spare you a little." He said, winking at me.

"Sounds like a plan." I allready liked this guy.

He bought the bread and we found a quiet place to sit. He introduced himselt as Haydn, and I told him my name was Alister.

"Before I forget to tell you, Teivel went off on his own for a while. Pit-stop, I guess. He said to meet him back at the ox-cart by six this evening." Haydn informed me, while handing me a big chunk of his loaf. I thanked him and chewed vigorously for a while, trying to think of something to make conversation.

"So," I swallowed, since my mouth was full,"Why are you travelling with Teivel?" I asked casually.

Haydn seemed to become nervous again.

"No reason in particular. We were going in the same direction, and he was kind enough to offer me a ride." He told me.

"Hmm, well that was nice of him. He picked me up too. Guess he's a just good guy." I said, not convinced of my own words.

"That's right, a good guy." Haydn agreed.

We munched some more.

"What happened to your arm?" I had noticed it a while ago. He had a little cut on his elbow. It was perfect in a way that made it look intentional.

Haydn almost choked on his bread. Why was he so edgy? He composed himself before answering.

"An accident...I'm clumsy sometimes."

An accident. Of course. As if I was going to believe that. I didn't want to pry though, so I let it slip.

Once we had finished eating, we continued to wander around the town.

"Do you need frechen up?" Haydn offered, "There's a swimming pool ahead. I'm sure they'll have showers there."

"That sounds like exactly what I need, actually." I said, brightning up. I hated being filthy.

There were indeed showers at the pool. The best part of it was that they were free of charge. Haydn left me at the door, telling me he'd see me back at the cart.

The showers wern't great, since the water was being pumped. I didn't mind though. I stood underneath one of them for a long time, getting rid of every bit of grime there was to get rid of. I scrubbed from my head to my toes, using the soap I had packed.

When I finished, I felt squeaky-clean. I dried off and got dressed before going to meet Haydn at the ox-cart. The sun was low in the sky, so it must have been almost six. When I got there, he was feeding the ox, which was apparently named Tom.

We sat around talking for about half an hour before Teivel showed up. He seemed to come out of thin air.

"Hello, both of you." He smiled at us. "Glad to see you look better, Alister."

"Thanks." I muttered.

"Haydn and I have to go off for a while. There are candles in the cart, if you need them. Books too, if they interest you." Teivel said. Haydn was frowning at him.

"Where are you going?" I didn't really care weather I sounded nozy.

"There's some buisiness we have to attend to." Teivel answered in a tone that warned me not to push for more, "We should be back in about twenty minutes."

"Fine. See you later." I replied flatly before watching them walk off towards a small wooded area, probably the only one of it's kind in this desert.

What buiseness could they possibly have to attend to in a forest? It was a mystery to me.

I crept inside of the ox-cart. It was dark allready, so I had a hard time finding the candles. I lit one and put it down on the wooden floor, a little afraid something might catch fire. Then I went to search through a heap of books.

Books might have been great entertainment, if it wern't for the fact that I couldn't read. I'd just never been taught. Luckily I found one with lots of images.

I sat on the mat, flipping through the pages.

The dark was making me somewhat weary. The flickering candle light made everything look spooky, so I began to whistle. Whistling always made me feel a bit safer.

I wasn't sure how I felt about Teivel. He had been kind to me, but he was hiding something. Something important.

_You're exaggerating Alisa. _

_He's a great guy. _

_You're just to stubborn to believe it._

I decided to forget about the whole affair for the moment, and began analyzing one of the images in the book.

It was a landscape, and it looked wonderful. White sand, a turquoise ocean, clear skys... I tried to decipher some of the words in the caption.

"I brought you some fruit." said a familiar voice, from right beside me.

I just about had a premature heart attack.

It took me a moment to recover. Then I glared at him.

Teivel was looking at me, amused. His maroon eyes were reflecting the fire light. I wanted to slap him silly for scaring me, but I refrained.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to freak you out." He said, handing me the bag of fruit. I took it from him.

"You didn't freak me out." I lied, "Where's Handle?"

"Handle decided he wanted to stay in this town for a while. He won't be travelling with us anymore."

"What? How come?" I asked, surprised. I liked Handle. I didn't want to continue the trip without him.

" I don't know. It was his decision."

Why would Haydn decide suddenly that he wanted to stay in this village? He hadn't mentioned it earlier that day, while we were talking. Did it have anything to do with the _buisiness_ he and Teivel had to attend to? Was he allrite?

We sat there in silence for a moment, before Teivel inched closer, to see which book I was "reading".

"You like travel books?" He asked, a little perplexed.

"Yes. Love them. They make me want to travel." I replied, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

"I see." He said not sounding convinced at all, "Alister?"

"Yes?" I looked up at him. He was staring at me, looking mischievous.

"You told me yesterday that you'd been searching for an 'adventure'."

"Did I? I forget."

"You did. Right before you started snoring. What if I were to tell you that I could offer you the adventure of a life time, for something in return?" He seemed ecxited. I didn't like it.

"What kind of "thing"?" I asked. He couldn't possibly be referring to- Yuck. Of course not.

Then he smiled impishly, and I noticed something I hadn't noticed before.

He had fangs.

**"Alister." he said, suddenly very serious. "I have a proposal for you."**


	4. Talking with Teivel

**Thanks again for the reviews! They're fantastic motivation.**

**I mixed up Haydn's name in the last chapter. Started calling him Handle at some point.**

**Emily; I did know that Joseph Haydn was a famous composer. We've been studying him in music. I liked the name so I decided to use it. ;) Handle is actually also a composer, so I'm getting them all confused.**

* * *

"A proposal?" I repeated, completely distracted by his teeth.

"Yes."

"Is it just me, or are those fangs?" I asked. I didn't want to be rude, but this was just to weird. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed before hand.

"They are fangs." said Teivel, and then the strangest thing happened. He just retracted them. They sank back into his gums, and his teeth were normal again.

"What on- How did you-?" I was at a loss of words, completely confused.

"I'll explain." He waited a moment, probably for me to stop ogling at his mouth, and then continued, "To stay alive and sane, I need to drink human blood. I use the fangs to bite." He said this slowly and carefully, measuring my reaction.

Hold on. Rewind. Had he just told me he needed to drink blood?

If this was some kind of joke, it wasn't very funny.

"What do you mean you 'need blood to stay alive'. That's ridiculous. What do you think you are, some kind of vampire?" Which messed up cult did he belong to?

"That's exactly what I am." He replied quietly.

It took me a moment to register what he was saying. I looked him over. Was he messing with me? It certainly didn't look like it. The fangs were pretty convincing.

"You're a vampire?" I squeaked. I knew that vampires existed, just like goblins and warlocks did. But they were supposed to exist in far away lands. Mystical places. Not right here in Corenthia.

"Afraid so."

"Shouldn't you, I don't know, look scarier or something?"

He smiled, in a very un-scary way.

"Well... I'm a nice vampire. Most are." .

"How so?" I couldn't believe I was having this conversation. If he truly was a vampire, I should have been running for the hills.

"Well, I helped you out, didn't I? And I always ask before I drink from anyone."

"I should certainly hope so, but what does this have to do with your little proposal?" Why was he telling me this?

"It's obvious, isn't it?" He raised an eyebrow.

"No, it isn't" I said lamely.

"Alister, I want to drink from you." He enunciated every word, as if I were hard of hearing, "In exchange I'll provide you with an adventure. There's a whole world out there you don't know much about."

"So, you want _me_ to give_ you_ some of _my_ blood?" As if that was going to happen. Nice of him to ask so politely though... Not.

"Yes."

"That's disgusting. I barely know you."

He looked taken aback for a moment, and then tried a new approach.

"It may seem digusting to you, but it's perfectly normal to me." He stated this as if it were a matter of fact, "Every vampire needs one or two blood donors. It's illegal to take from them without permission. We switch pretty frequently though, usually every few months. Haydn was my previous donor. He gave me his blood in exchange for a trip across the desert."

Well, that explained a lot. But Haydn wasn't travelling with us anymore. He'd wanted to stay in this village for a while. Then it dawned on me.

"Did you kill Haydn?" I whispered, more than a little horrified.

"Of course not!" He seemed completely insulted.

"Both of you went off in the woods, and then you came back without him! That's pretty suspicious, Teivel." I exlaimed. Did he take me for some kind of idiot?

He frowned at me for a moment, and then chuckled.

"Ok, I see why you're concerned. But as far as I know, Haydn is still alive and well. It was just getting to be a little much for him. He'd said he hadn't been feeling well. Sometimes older people don't regenerate blood as..." He struggled for the right words, "fast as I need them to. It leads them to feel light headed and tired. Haydn figured I could use you as a new donor."

This upset me a little.

"Well, how much blood do you need?"

"About a half-cup every 2 days."

A half-cup every two days? A person only had so much blood.

"That's alot."

"Yes, it is. Normaly, when a person loses that amount of blood, it takes them a couple of weeks to regenerate. However, donors eat asper leaves, which speeds up the regenerating process by quite a bit."

Of course. Asper leaves. It didn't take a genius to figure that one out. They were well known for their healing properties and packed with nutrition. Mothers always forced their kids to eat them.

I didn't ask anymore questions. We both sat there in silence. Teivel was still watching me, probably wondering weather I would make a run for it. I wasn't planning to, though.

A lot of things were running through my mind.

I had escaped my home town for an adventure, and I'd definitly found one. Spending a few months with a vampire would probably teach me some incredible things about the world. Maybe even more than I wanted to know.

I thought about my family. How would they have reacted if they'd known about my current situation? Had they sent out a search party yet? I hoped not. I got a knot in my stomach.

I did feel guilty for leaving them. Making them worry. It was extremely self-centered of me.

I didn't want to go back though, not after getting this far.

I took in a long, shaky breath.

"You don't have to make a decision right now." Teivel said gently. His voice brought me back into the present. "Why don't you sleep on it? But please eat the fruit before it goes bad." he teased, trying to get me to loosen up.

"You won't try to eat me in the night or something?" I asked, only half joking.

"Nope"

"How do I know that?"

He put a hand on my shoulder.

"Alister," he smirked, "If I'd wanted to eat you, I would have done so by now."

I grinded my teeth. His ego really was through the roof, wasn't it?

Teivel got up and stretched a little.

"I'm going to get the ox moving. You can sleep or whatever." He said as he got out of the cart.

I took the quilt and spread it over the mat, before lying down across it. The cart began moving, slowly dragging along the sand.

I lay there for a long time. I had a decision to make; become a donor and continue the trip with Teivel, or go off on my own.

I liked the idea of a good adventure. Teivel was right, there was an entire world out there that I didn't know anything about. But the concept of giving my own blood grossed me out. It was wrong, totaly unnatural.

It scared me a little too.

_But this is what it's all about._

_Taking a step on the wild side._

It was true. This was what I'd been looking for.

Tomorow, I'd tell Teivel. I wanted the adventure.


	5. Bathing in Blood

_Why am I back here? _

I was lost in the desert again, hot, tired, and very thirsty.

There was nothing but the same in every direction. Sand. My legs were aching, begging me to stop, but I forced myself to keep on walking.

_Water. Get some water. _

Eventually, I saw something in the distance, so I began to walk towards whatever it was. As I got closer, I realised it was an oasis, complete with a tiny lake and a handful of palm trees. Sweet Salvation.

_Saved. Your saved._

I hurried to the lake. I was so relieved about finding it that I jumped in.

It wasn't until I was completely soaked that I realised I wasn't swimming in water. Instead it was a dark, thick liquid.

_Blood._

* * *

I woke up with a start.

A dream.

It had all been a dream. I took a few moments to orient myself, and then sat up.

I felt a little nauseated, remembering the bloodbath. This vampire thing was really getting to me.

"Morning Bedhead." I looked up to see Teivel. He was sitting on top of a wooden packaging box, book in hand.

Bedhead. No kidding. He should have seen me while I still had my long hair.

"Morning." I yawned and stretched, "Have you been up a long time? Where's the coffin?"

He snorted.

"Yea, I've been up for a while. I don't really need much sleep." He informed me.

"Ah. Is that all part of the vampire thing? Being nocturnal and such?" I teased.

"Yea. It's part of the package." He said rolling his eyes.

"Really?"

He nodded.

This was strange. I looked at him for a moment. I hadn't realised there was more to being a vampire than just drinking blood.

"Is the superspeed part of the package to?" I asked. I shouldn't have. He was expressionless for a moment. The he grinned wickedly and disapeared, before reapearing right infront of me. This shoked me a little (I think it would shock most people), and his smile just got wider.

"Yup." He answered, amused .

"Huh." Was all I managed to say.

He laughed, and went back to sit on his box.

I rubbed some of the sleep out of my eyes. To say the least, adventures where exhausting, and I hadn't even gotten to the part where I had to spare some of my plasma. Yuck.

I got up and stuffed my quilt into my bag. I took a seat on another wooden box, not to sure what to do.

"So..." I tried to make some conversation. I didn't know what vampires chatted about. "Where are you from?"

What a boring thing to ask, but Teivel smiled anyway.

"No where, really. I've travelled around all my life... You're awfully talkative, compared to yesterday, that is."

This made me self concious.

"I'll shut up then." Jeez. I was just trying to be polite.

"Don't be so defensive. I'm was pointing it out, that's all..."

There was a brief silence.

"Did you, um..." He began. He didn't have to continue. I knew what he was referring to.

I had been dreading this. It embarrased me to talk about the whole "blood" thing. Mostly because it obviously scared me, and also because it was, well... weird.

"Yes, I did." I said, barely audible, playing with the lace of my shoe, "I've decided stick around."

_Stick around_? That's the best I could come up with? Where had my confidence gone? If I was going to be giving this guy some of my own blood, I'd better show him who's boss.

I took a breath, and then looked him straight in the eye. Very confident.

"What I mean to say is, I don't have anywhere to go. I want to see the world, before I become old and crippled, so you better be up to the task. In exchange, I'll be a donor." I said this with a just hint of attitude. Perfect.

"Cool"

_Cool_. That was all he had to say. I was thinking more along the lines of 'yes master'.

For a while, he continued to read his book. I stared at the air infront of me, feeling as though I'd just made a pact with the devil. A very kind, goodlooking devil, but that wasn't the point.

There was one last thing I needed to know, though.

"Umm..." He peered up from his book once again, "About the whole blood thing..."

Gosh, this was awkward.

"When do you need me to, uh-"

He seemed to catch my drift.

"How about every second evening?" he said asked nicely. I think he realised it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. "I don't need any today, because I got some from Haydn last night."

"Every second evening sounds fine." I mumbled.

I couldn't believe I was going through with this.

"When do we get to Napolis?" I asked, to change the subject.

"In a few hours, actually." He said cheerfully.

I smiled. I couldn't wait to get there. I'd never been in a big city before.

The rest of the ride went by quietly. Teivel continued to read various books, and I just sat around, wondering what to do when we got there.

For a while, I walked alongside the moving ox-cart, to pass time. We were climbing over a fairly steep sand dune, and I was finding it a little difficult.

I felt bad for Tom, the ox. He had to do this all the time, while pulling about twice his own weight.

We got to the top of the dune, and I sucked in a breath of amazement. The whole city had appeared before us. It was incredible. Even Tom seemed excited.

"We're here!" I couldn't help but call out.

Teivel appeared from the cart, smiling.

"Yea, it would look like it."

I scanned the landscape. It really was huge. I couldn't believe the whole place had managed to hide behind a pile of sand.

Teivel found a shady place to park the Ox, right on the outskirts of town.

"Allrite, I'll see in a few hours." I told him before going off to see the city.

_Now this is what you call an adventure. _


End file.
